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secretly to levy a toll upon the dispensing chemist is a mostunworthy practice. We are convinced that nothing of the sortwas dreamed of in the present instance, and can only regretthat such impntations should have arisen from an act of un-doubted thoughtlessness and unintentional impropriety.

TYPHUS IN LANCASHIRE.

TYPHUS in Preston remains wellnigh stationary. The averagenumber of cases occurring weekly is about twenty. The publicjournals report that the disease has shown itself in new partsof the town. A new fever ward is near completion; the erectionis finished, and all is ready for the internal fittings and bedding.We have no reports of typhus from other districts, so that

we may venture to hope that the malady is stationary, as atPreston, in those places in which it has already appeared ; andthat it has not broken out in any new centres.

FREEDOM OF DEBATE.

FREEDOM of debate is essential in all questions relating tothe science or practice of Medicine. But there is a line whichit is the duty of a president to determine. At the meeting ofthe Medical and Chirurgical Society on Tuesday night a paperwas read on the Hereditary Transmission of Malformation-asubject of the highest importance. We think it is to be re-

gretted that the estimable chairman allowed some of the gen-tlemen who spoke upon the paper to diverge from its purportto such an extent that the purpose of the author was entirelylost sight of. The error committed was undoubtedly on theright side ; but it must always be borne in mind that when anauthor presents his paper to the members of a learned bodylike the Medical and Chirurgical Society, his desire is to obtainthe opinions of the Fellows upon the question which he sub-mits to their consideration. Lawyers do not admit of speakers"travelling out of the record." If this be important upon amerely legal question, how much more important in a medicaldiscussion ! We are by no means disposed to cavil at a slightdeparture from this wholesome rule; but it has its limits, andthese limits it is the duty of a president to define. How far

they were departed from in the discussion of Tuesday eveningour readers will be able to judge when we present a full reportof the meeting in the next LANCET. The discussion, whichwas commenced by Professor Fergusson with great judgmentand ability, unfortunately proceeded in a manner which was,to say the least of it, exceedingly provoking. It had nothing,in fact, to do with the author’s paper; on the contrary, itdiverged from the correct line indicated bv it, into a debateupon most irrelevant subjects. In pointing out this departurefrom legitimate discussion, we have no desire to limit the per-fect freedom of debate, but rather to urge the importance ofnot giving to that freedom undue proportions. The debate onthe interesting paper of Dr. Webster, on the Cæsarean Section,is open to the same censure.

MEDICAL EDUCATION IN ROME.-"I I shall not easilyforget," says M. About in his admirable volume, "La QuestionRomaine," "the insane laughter which seized me when Ientered the anatomical theatre at the Hospital of the SantoSpirito in Rome, and saw the corpse which was being dissectedby the students covered with a vine leaf. In that land ofchastity, where the bashful vine entwines itself round everybranch of science, a young surgeon, an assistant -,t a hospital,confessed to me that he had never seen a woman’s breast.’’We have,’ he told me, ’to pass two examinations for theDoctor’s degree, one theoretical, the other practical. Betweenthe first and the second we practise at the hospitals, as yousee. But the priests, who have the greatest authoiitv overour studies, do not allow a doctor to attend a labour till he haspassed his second examination and obtained a licence to prac-tise. They are afraid of demoralizing us. We deliver dolls,and in that manner acquire practical experience. In sixmonths I shall have taken all my degrees, 1 shall practise stir-gery, and I shall attend as many labours as I like, withoutever having seen one.’ "

THE

LANCASHIRE DISTRESS MEDICAL FUND.

THE dire and widespread distress in Lancashire has calledforth a living stream of sympathy and aid from every cornerof the land. Such a demonstration of fellow-feeling has proved,in the most convincing manner, not only how active is theprinciple of Charity in England, but still more how strong is thetie that binds all Englishmen together as members of one

family. Firstly, every individual looks upon the cry from thecotton districts as a direct appeal to himself. In the next

place, every country, every town, every village, every congre.gation, every public body, links together its constituents, andin its corporate capacity helps again.

In one way or another, we are too well assured that ourmedico brethren, the never-failing friends of the poor, haveadded their contributions, in money and in labour, towardsthe alleviation of the appalling sufferings that wring theheart of the nation. But the winter advances, and the

American strife still rages in insensate fury, withholding thematerial of industry. For some months to come the effort

must be sustained. The occasion calls for medical men

no.v to act in a body as a profession. We invite them,knowing their liberality, and the depth of the distress waitingfor relief, to institute a " Medical Fund." Every medicalpractitioner knows how sadly want of the necessaries of lifecauses and aggravates disease, and augments the difficulties oftreatment. None so well as the medical practitioners in thedistressed districts know how the distress is to be met most

’ effectually. It would afford most material aid if the medicalI

practitioners throughout the country would strengthen the

, hands of their colleagues in Lancashire, by supplying them. with means of affording medical comforts and food to the

patients. First of all remedies for diseases that spring fromb starvation are food, firing, and clothing. We should earnestly

desire to organize a system of mutual aid of this kind-

medical men lightening the burden that falls with such over-’

whelming pressure upon the medical profession in Stockport,Blackburn, and elsewhere. In this way we think more good

s could be done than in any other which yet remains open.s We hope before next week to receive such information from-

our brethren in Lancashire as will give a determinate directionf to the funds we may be enabled from time to time to collect.

As a beginning- as an inauguration of the Medical Fund-we’

subjoin the following list of subscriptions :-

CHEMICAL SOCIETY.-At a meeting of this Society, heldon the 20th inst., Dr. Hofmann, F.R.S., President, in thechair, Dr. W. G. Blogden, Esq.. was elected a Fellow. Mr.G. B. Buckton read a paper "On the Formation of Organo-Metallic Radicals by Substitution." Mr. E. Nicholson read a

paper "On the Specific Gravity of Urine as a Measure of itsSolid Coustituents." He found that the specific gravity ofhuman urine did not bear, even approximately, any ratio tothe proportion of urea present., but was largely influenced bythe very variable amount of chloride of sodium. By esti-mating the chloride of sodium volumetrically, and deductingthe specitic gravity due to it, the remaining specific gravitywithin certain limits corresponded roughly with the proportionof urea.